Israel May Cut Ties with the Who in Wake of Agency’s Latest Vote

The World Health Organization has once again adopted a resolution critical of Israel, and as a result, the Jewish state may cease cooperating with the U.N. agency.

The latest anti-Israel resolution, which has become a yearly WHO “tradition,” was adopted at the agency’s annual General Assembly here with 90 states supporting the measure. Only Israel and the United States dissented.

The resolution condemns Israel for allegedly neglecting the health needs of Palestinians in the administered territories. It accuses Israel of not abiding by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which refers to the treatment of civilian populations under military occupation, and raises the issue of Jewish settlements.

But Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yitzhak Lior, said Israel this year warned the WHO in advance that if a political resolution were adopted by an organization that is supposed to deal with health issues, not politics, Israel would reconsider cooperating with it.

The resolution was co-sponsored by the Arab states, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden and Greece.

It expresses “deep concern at the negative effects of the practices of the occupying power against the Palestinian people in the field of health during the intifada, at a time when social and economic conditions in the territories are deteriorating.”

It regrets “the refusal of the Israeli authorities to allow experts to visit the occupied Arab territories” and deplores “the continuing deterioration of the situation, which seriously affects the living conditions of the people, compromises permanently the future of Palestinian society and prevents the economic and social development of the territories.”